One thing that comes up frequently in my conversations about Sustainable Living is the question of self reliance or self sufficiency. This generally is questioned amongst our fellow church goers, where it seems there is a perceived conflict between the philosophy of total reliance on God in our life and sustainable living. One thing I want to do is share my understanding of what the Bible tells us and how I believe it doesn’t contradict sustainable living, but actually supports it. In short you cannot lead a sustainable life without relying on God to provide everything you need.
As I stated earlier, sustainable living is a series of lifestyle decisions that attempts to alter our day to day activities to be stewards of God's gifts – both natural resources and our own individual resources. Taking a look at the beginning (Gen 1:26, 28, Gen 2:15, Ps 8:6-8), God directs us to go fourth and flourish, but also to be steward’s of God’s creation. We are not to exploit, waste or despoil them, but to care for them and use them for the service of God and man. We are to govern the earth responsibly.
In one of Jesus’ parables (Matt 25:14-30) three servants are entrusted with the wealth of their master, each one only received what they were capable of handling. The first two servants worked with the resources they were given and doubled their master’s value. The last did nothing and sat on the wealth they were given. The last servant was punished for being lazy with what they were given. Why did Jesus tell this story? It tells us something about how God deals with us, his servants. The parable speaks of the Master's trust in his servants; he leaves them with his property to use as they think best. This was a test to see if the Master's workers would be industrious and reliable in their use of the property entrusted to them. The master rewards those who are industrious and faithful and he punishes those who sit by idly and who do nothing with what they were given. The point of the parable seems to lie in the servants' conception of responsibility and stewardship. The servant who hid away the master's wealth was irresponsible. The master expected his servants to be productive in the use of his wealth. What do the laws of economics have to do with the kingdom of God? The Lord entrusts the subjects of his kingdom with resources and graces and he gives his subjects the freedom to use them as they think best. With each gift and talent, God gives sufficient the means (grace and wisdom) for using them in a fitting way. As the parable shows, God abhors indifference and an attitude that says it's not worth trying. God honors those who are faithful with even a little and they are entrusted with more! But those who neglect or squander what God has entrusted to them will lose what they have. We have obligations to use what was given us in the Christian life.
We are given a command to be good stewards of what is given to us and are expected to utilize what is before us. Trying to live a sustainable life forces us to rely on God to provide, but also helps us be good stewards of our resources, never exploiting or wasting what is given to us.
